Steel
by ForeverADramioneShipper
Summary: A repeat of the past, a cursed love triangle echoes itself into reality once again. Because everyone knows Potter always gets the girl. Set during 6th year. Harmony/Dramione with mentions of Limes/Snily.
1. Chapter 1

**Hello, fellow shippers :) This is my first story of FF so I would appreciate it is you kept any unnecessary mean comments to yourselves. That being said, I would really, really like reviews to help me make it better and inspire me to continue this.**

**Just a shoutout that I promised I would make: This story was inspired by a youtube video by storiette93 called dramione; the pensieve. It is pure emotional genius and I love it to bits. If you want to see it here's the link: watch?v=SaQLvi3dB7o&feature=g-all-lik**

* * *

Severus Snape returned to the Department of Mysteries after Potter and the Dark Lord's duel there. He was looking for a prophecy, one in particular. He strode ominously towards the very back of the indescribably massive hall, where the Weasley girl's _Reducto_ spell failed to reach. There he found it, glowing brilliantly as ever, white claw like smoke curling over itself again and again. He reached his pale hand out and touched it, held it. Then he gently shook it until the smoke inside the glass turned azure and dreamy. A raspy voice emitted from the glowing blue sphere

"_A millennium of loss for one,_

_A millennium of gain for another,_

_A truth that ought not be meddled,_

_Is changed to suit a lover._

"_Before the curse is broken,_

_Only one fact remains real,_

_The Potter always wins until_

_The boy with Strength of Steel."_

He knew what this meant, and so would Dumbledore. History is to repeat itself once more, and this time, it might be too close.

* * *

Hermione sat down in the small train compartment with Harry and Ron. Despite her own wishes, she couldn't help but think ahead and wonder what life-threatening trouble the danger prone trio were bound to get thrown into this year. First year there was the three-headed dog and the professor with Voldemort stuck to the back of his head. Second year was a venomous basilisk and a killer diary. Third year was an escaped convict and the whole school flooded with soul-sucking dementors. Forth year was a deadly competition and the resurrection of a long-thought-dead murderer with a grudge. That brought her to the previous year, when they faced eight Death Eaters and discovered that Harry's mind was in fact attached to Voldemort's. Yup, that about summed it up.

Maybe she'd get lucky and nothing but hard studying and exams would happen this year. She mentally laughed at herself. That was the exact same thing she told herself every year.

She looked outside the mahogany framed window at the pouring rain. Of course. Typically British weather. She sighed and unintentionally drew Ron and Harry's attention to herself.

"What are you thinking about, Hermione?"

"Just trying to guess what dangerous dilemmas we'll be thrown head first at this year." She was only half joking.

"Yeah, maybe the only thing we'll have to run screaming for our lives for is Hermione's hair in a morning." Hermione chuckled with them; she knew Ron was only teasing.

Sometime during the entirety of the journey to their considerable second home, Harry, Ron and Hermione had changed from their home clothes and pulled their luggage down from the overhead shelves. Hermione, unsurprisingly, was studying for Sixth Year Exams at the end of term. Ron and Harry were stuffing their faces like hamsters with sweets, Ron making a delighted pig-like grunting as he did. Hermione noticed this several times, huffed, rolled her eyes and returned to her book.

"Why do you insist on reading that book? It's still eight months until the exams," Harry, who thankfully did not have a mouth full of food like Ron would have done, asked with a slight furrow in his brow.

"Is there something wrong with trying to be the best I can be?" Hermione replied, a little annoyed. Shouldn't they know her by now?

"No, but there is something wrong with studying all through the summer and then still studying when you get here. Just relax for one night." Hermione lifted her book up and began reading again. Harry pushed the top of the book down under the table. "For me." Hermione rolled her eyes but smiled all the same, closing her book and laying it on the table.

* * *

"Severus, you don't mean to tell me that the process has already begun?" Albus Dumbledore leaned back in his seat in the Great Hall looking sideways curiously at his greasy haired friend.

"Potter is the only living descendant in a hundred generations of cursed ancestors. The curses, like all curses, as you know, do their best to stay alive. Which means that unless Potter has some long lost relative that nobody knows about, he must be carrying the curse. It sets in around the age of eleven, when the original curse setter Potter first met the one he loved. The story, as the curse decrees, is always exactly the same. The eldest generation male Potter falls in love with a muggleborn Gryffindor girl. A Slytherin of the same age also falls for her. The Potter wins. It's the same story with different names, Albus, over and over and over again." The usually unemotional professor's voice broke and he had tears in his eyes.

"But every time the curse is reborn in another Potter, the near-death experiences for the girl involved get more intense. I understand, Severus, what you are getting at, but every time the curse is reborn, it multiplies in intensity. The danger increases fractionally. But even I cannot halt the curse now. There is only one thing we can do. Wait for the Steel Boy to appear and break the curse."

"Lily, Albus. Think about Lily. She was the muggleborn Gryffindor who fell in love with a cursed Potter and look what happened! She's dead, Albus!" His quiet shouting was lost among the loud conversations of the three thousand students seated there. "We cannot just sit here waiting for the Steel Boy to turn up and save another poor girl from a horrific death. We must do something. I beg you. No more deaths like Lily…" He trailed off, controlling himself against the crushing pain of losing her. "And it's not incredibly difficult to guess who the next victim would be, either."

"Severus?" Dumbledore's wispy white eyebrows drew together. "You don't mean…"

"Look at them, Albus." The two professors looked over to the green-eyed boy-who-lived at the exact moment he pushed a certain bushy-haired muggleborn's book under the table and stare into her eyes.

"Hermione Granger."

* * *

**Don't worry, since this was just the introduction, I had to put in more scenes of Sev and Al talking than I will with the next few chapters, I promise I won't do as much for them as I will for Dramione or Harmony. But since its a major part in the flow of the story, I will have them popping in occasionally.**

**Like it, hate it, want me to go stick my ear under a tap until my ideas get better, review and tell me! And if you do like it, I wouldn't protest to you following or favouriting either ^_^ Thanks for reading**

**~ Natalie x**


	2. Chapter 2

Hermione was in a panic. She'd never been this late to a lesson before, including in third year to Professor Trelawney's Divination class, ridiculous as it was. Her light brown, curly hair frizzed from air seeping through it as she ran down the almost empty corridor. She checked the muggle watch on her wrist she had been given by her parents for her birthday. 10:03. Three minutes late was beyond the boundary for Hermione Granger, notorious bookworm and teacher's pet. She worked her legs faster and faster until her thighs burned, the majority of her well-organised brain concentrated on maintaining her perfect attendance record. At least, that was until someone interrupted her dash to the classroom by ignorantly placing their body in her path of well-intended destruction. It seemed that slamming with full force into the hard figure of the tall boy managed to knock her main focus to the less important section of her mind. The new replacement was-

"OW!" She frowned as her frame hit the cool stone floor, bottom end first. The large volumes she had been carrying were thrown out of her arms, and coincidentally, onto the obstacle's foot.

"Ugh! Tell me about it, carrying books like that around all day, you should have arms like a bodybuilder!" An unmistakably sarcastic Slytherin grumbled, half bent over from clutching his toe.

She said nothing, but glared at him all the same while gathering her books and what was left of her dignity from the floor.

"Watch your speed, mudblood, and maybe you wouldn't end up on your arse." He shot her a dirty look as she rose rather ungracefully from the ground, hauling her comically large books with her.

"Watch your mouth, ferret, and maybe you'll still have an arse to end up on." She retorted, sidestepping him. He looked indignantly at her, and she shot him the sweetest smile she could muster without inducing her gag reflex. "Move, I don't have time for this." She carried on at a not-quite-run, checking her watch again.

* * *

After the first two classes, Hermione headed up to her room to exchange books. Ron and Harry were lounging on the red sofa in the middle of the common room, debating a conspiracy Quidditch game that happened twenty years ago. Hermione, being Hermione, simply rolled her eyes and continued up towards her dormitory. Her blood was still boiling from her run in with Malfoy that morning. How dare he just assume that she hit him on purpose? Oh, yes, Malfoy, the exact thoughts running through my incredibly devious mind were: Wow, wouldn't it be really funny to run directly into Malfoy's body, drop books on his toe and fall on my bottom?

"Hey, what's wrong?" Harry had noticed the glower that she was sending towards anything that happened to enter into her line of vision.

"Malfoy." She said simply, not trusting herself to tell him without shouting or breaking something.

"What happened?" Harry furrowed his eyebrows. She looked at him in such a way that he understood the words she didn't need to say. _He's Malfoy_. "Ah."

"He's just…he's just…Malfoy. There's no word strong enough to describe him."

"I know, I gave up trying to understand him on any level six years ago." Harry smiled at her, and she returned it.

"Thanks, Harry."

"Any time." He replied, smiling at her once more before returning to his debate with Ron, which had been joined by Seamus and Dean. Ginny was watching them interestedly, piping in every now and then, only to be shushed by her older brother, who claimed it was a boy's only conversation. More than once they looked at him questioningly for that statement.

* * *

Later on that day, after the afternoon classes had gone by, however excruciatingly slow for the boys and ridiculously quickly for Hermione, the three companions made their way towards the common room to drop off their books and discard their school robes. They had a while before dinner was served, so they decided to take a walk by the lake for a while. Ginny, having just finished her classes as well, walked with them, before she caught sight of Dean, her current boyfriend, and rushed off to meet him.

"So, what actually happened to you on the train? I know you missed the carriages, but there must have been a reason." Hermione inquired.

"Malfoy. He knew I was watching him when I went to look." Harry flushed a little, embarrassed that he had been outsmarted by an idiot such as Malfoy.

"Harry, I told you-" Hermione began, before Harry interrupted.

"I know, I know. Anyway, he froze me, broke my nose and left me on the train. If it hadn't been for Luna, I'd still be there." Harry concluded.

"Well, you shouldn't have gone snooping around him then. We've got no proof that he's involved with any of it, whether his father is or not is a completely different matter. I despise him, but for now he's innocent until proven guilty." Hermione gave her usual fair judgement and turned to Ron, who was throwing stones at fish.

She scoffed at Ron disapprovingly, pretending having not heard Harry mutter "I'll get you your proof."

* * *

Albus and Severus watched intensely through the tower window at the three silhouettes down near the lake below, glancing at each other every now and again in concern.

"Albus, please. Is there anything we can do?" Severus almost begged of his superior.

"I'm sorry, Severus, the curse breakers are putting every effort into it, but the curse is generations old. It was so subtle a curse when it was cast, that by the time anybody noticed, it had become too powerful to be broken with a simple solution. This may take months." Albus was almost cut off by the cry of his former student.

"That may be too late!" Severus turned away from him, but not before Albus saw the glimpse of a tear in his eye. "Lily." The name was broken and disjointed as he said it, but clear enough to understand. "She's dead, Albus! If we don't end this curse before it's too late, I'm afraid Miss Granger will be next."

"Believe me, Severus, I am trying my best." Silence fell upon the two Professors then, knowing nothing more could be said until answers were made apparent.

* * *

**Sorry about the late updating, I've been doing GCSEs and stuff, but now it's the holidays again I can resume writing :) I hope you enjoyed the chapter, please review, I need people's opinions to make the next chapter better. I will try to write up the next chapter soon, until then, REVIEW, FAVOURITE AND FOLLOW ^_^ Thanks for reading**

**~ Natalie x**


	3. Chapter 3

Draco Malfoy sat in all his pureblood etiquette in Professor Slughorn's first Potions class. He missed Professor Snape teaching; at least Snape was Slytherin. The only positivity about this lesson so far was the fact that neither Pothead nor Weaselbee had shown up. Yet. He sighed to himself. Draco had spent the entirety of the lesson so far only half listening to Slughorn, with his eyes on the ground. He was surrounded by his usual friends, despite the fact that none of them were even mildly good at it. They joined because he'd said he was, the idiots.

Of course, there were more drawbacks than just the teacher. Whilst two thirds of the Golden Trio had failed to show, the most irritating one had. Granger. She set his teeth on edge more and more each time she raised her hand. Especially when she raised her hand, did not get chosen and spoke anyway. Unfortunately, Draco's luck did not hold, and Pothead stumbled in seven minutes late. He huffed and twisted his torso even further away from where the boy was stood, as if he could infect him with Gryffindorness from where he stood.

"Ah! Harry, my boy, I was beginning to worry." _Oh good, another number one fan of the extraordinary Harry Potter_, Draco thought bitterly. "Brought someone with us I see."

Draco didn't have to look to know who, and it sent his mood even further through the floorboards. Or floor stones, as the case may be. "Ron Weasley, sir. But I'm dead awful at Potions, a menace actually, so…I'm probably just gonna-"

Draco heard the struggle of the two boys as Harry restrained the redhead from leaving. Slughorn interrupted the scramble. "Nonsense! We'll sort you out, any friend of Harry's is a friend of mine. Get your books out."

"Sorry, sir, I haven't actually got my book yet, and nor's Ron." Draco rolled his eyes at the apology. Who apologises for not being given the right equipment? Fools.

"Not to worry, get what you want from the cupboard. Now as I was saying, I prepared some concoctions this morning. Any idea what these might be?" His greying blonde eyebrows rose at the speed of the first hand to go up. Draco scoffed, he already knew who it would be. "Yes, miss…"

"Granger, sir." She stepped forwards. Draco looked up to stare at the potions on the desk, ready to tick them off and check them as she undoubtedly guessed them all correctly. Pathetic know-it-all mudblood. "That one there is Veritaserum. It's a truth telling serum." She pointed to a strangely shaped vial on the left of the table. As expected, full marks. Draco didn't bother to take any account of the second one, he knew she'd got it right already. That potion was one she'd read in a book already. He only knew this because it had been the one she'd dropped on his foot a few days prior. _Clumsy_ pathetic know-it-all mudblood. The next one, however, he had to admit he'd be impressed if she knew. He'd been taught in potions over the summer by Professor Snape, so he knew most of the seventh year potions as well, and he'd learned on this one already. "And this is Amortentia. The most powerful love potion in the world." Of course she knew. She's Granger. He glared at her for the rest of her speech. "It's rumoured to smell differently to each person according to what attracts them. For example, I smell," She paused to inhale the scent of the powerful potion, all the while Draco still death staring, "freshly mown grass and…new parchment and…spearmint toothpaste."

The class was silent for a moment as Granger returned to her place, at the front of the gathering of students. Slughorn continued with the lesson as if there was no quiet at all.

"Now, Amortentia doesn't create actual love, that would be impossible, but it cause powerful infatuation or obsession. And for that reason, it is probably the most dangerous potion in this room." He placed the lid back on the cauldron and stopped the escaping multi-coloured fumes from reaching the noses of the girls who were slowly creeping forward. Lavender Brown and Pansy Parkinson were two of the said girls, well known for their approaching creepy-like obsessions.

Pug-Faced Parkinson had developed a crush on Draco ever since they first met in their First Year, and had followed him around ever since. After six tedious years of this, Draco had learned to perfect the art of ignorance and evasion. Brown, on the other hand, had established around fourteen different crushes in this time, all of whom had involved her following them around for weeks until they eventually gave up trying to run from her. She was like a boa constrictor with blonde pigtails; nowhere to run, then once you allowed her too close, there was no breathing space. Weasel Number 5, also known as Ron, was her next intended victim, though Draco couldn't comprehend why. Wasn't she afraid of catching Idiocy?

One of the other creeping girls, a Ravenclaw Draco couldn't remember the name of, pointed out the last potion that the professor had seemed to overlook. "Sir? You haven't told us what's in that one." She nodded her head towards the tiny teardrop shaped vial at the end of the table.

"Ah yes." He picked up the vial and held it up for show. "What you see before you, ladies and gentlemen, is a curious little potion, known as Felix Felicis. But it is more commonly referred to as-"

"Liquid Luck." Once again, mudblood extraordinaire had jumped in with the answer before the professor had even asked a question, or finished his sentence, for that matter. Slughorn didn't seem put out in the slightest though, which irritated the Malfoy heir even more.

"Yes, Miss Granger, Liquid Luck. Desperately tricky to make, disastrous should you get it wrong. One sip and you will find that all of your endeavours succeed. At least until the effects wear off." This spiked Draco's interest more than anything else had throughout the entire session. If he could get a hold of that…he wouldn't have to worry any longer about the horrendous task he had to carry out. "So this is what I offer each of you today. One tiny vial of Liquid Luck to the student who in the hour that remains manages to brew an acceptable draught of Living Death, the recipes for which can be found on page ten of your books." Draco made a vow right there and then that he would be the one to win that prize. Right now, it was worth more to him than everything he owned. Literally. "I should point out, however, that only once did a student manage to brew a potion of sufficient quality to claim this prize. Nevertheless, good luck to you all. Let the brewing commence!" Granger shot like a bullet to her desk, leaving her cohorts in the dust, in all senses usually, when it came to studies.

Draco turned quickly to page ten of his book and set out his equipment and ingredients. Snape had told him a few easy methods for this particular potion over the summer, but a lot had happened since then, and he would struggle to recall it all directly from memory. Draco already knew that his godfather was the one student who claimed the prize, and he intended to make him proud by being the second.

He struggled for around five minutes attempting to cut the beans as the instructions read, and then remembered one of Snape's alterations was to crush it with the blade of his knife, not cut it. He knew he would be the first to finish correctly at this rate, watching the other students mess about with the beans relentlessly, and so he continued at his own pace.

Two minutes later, however, in the silence of the concentrated potions brewing, Granger's voice piped up on the table nearest to Draco's. She spoke to Harry, who had also managed to release the juice accurately. This piqued at Draco's interest and annoyance.

"How did you do that?" She asked, seemingly aggravated at Pothead being able to get the method correct before she did. Draco strained his ears to hear Potter's quiet answer.

"Crush it, don't cut it." He'd got the method right, to Draco's astonishment.

"No, the instructions specifically say to cut." Granger protested righteously. Always one by the book, Granger was.

"No, really," He smiled at her. Granger was oblivious to this, checking the instructions and her potion several times before trying the way Potter had suggested. Draco worked faster. If Granger was on the right lines, he'd have to get a move on, or she'd match him, as per usual.

From that moment on, Draco worked as fast as he could remember Snape's alterations, glancing over at the Trio's table every few minutes, trying to see which part they had reached. He began to notice Granger's hair getting bigger and bigger as she became more frustrated with her potion. Her irritation made him smile. And then he would look at Potter's potion and put more effort into staying on top. Looked like it wasn't Granger's competition he'd needed to worry about at all, but Scarhead's.

Draco's efforts had gone to waste, as in only thirty minutes time, Slughorn was stood next to Potter's cauldron, telling him how perfect his potion was. Draco almost Wingardiumed his potion across the room, and Granger, underneath her explosion of hair, looked like she'd have liked to do the same. She stretched a tight smile across her face though, in support of her friend, no matter how much she'd wanted to beat the class in her usual know-it-all manner.

The class stood watching in the final minutes of the lesson as Slughorn presented Draco's one sure-fire lifeline to his rival.

"So here we are then, as promised, one vial of Felix Felicis. Congratulations. _Use it well_."

Draco didn't stick around in the classroom for very long. Instead, he stalked out of the room muttering incoherent insults directed towards the scarred speccy moron that seemed to win every competition against him, no matter how insignificant.

How typically Slytherin.

* * *

**No Sev or Al in this chapter, mainly because they can't monitor all interactions everywhere. They'll probably crop up during the next chapter at some point, but no guarantees.**

**On another note, you may have recognised this scene from the movies, and yes, I am using the movies as a baseline, for two reasons: 1) It's an easier script to follow, and therefore, easier to play with, and 2) because I re-watched the movie again the today and saw so many write-in opportunities for kicking off this whole story, I had to take it.**

**And finally thank you to the review from the guest who calls themselves 'abandon this', I really appreciate you spreading your anti-dramione views onto my story that clearly states in the summary 'Harmony/**_**Dramione**_**'. If you hate it that much, go and write your own fanfiction about a pairing of your choice. This is a fanfiction website. There's a whole world of different opinions to yours.**

**Thank you in all seriousness to those that wrote the lovely reviews though, you inspire me to continue! Please keep reviewing and tell me what you like/dislike about each chapter :)**

**~ Natalie x**


End file.
